Related Links

LA JOLLA, Calif. -Nick Iorfino led all players with 12 kills while hitting .556 as the UC San Diego men's volleyball team defeated 15th-ranked UC Santa Barbara in straight sets Friday night at RIMAC Arena. Set scores were 25-20, 25-17 and 25-20.

The win moved UCSD to 5-10 overall and 3-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), snapping a seven-match losing skid in conference contests. UCSB dropped to 5-10 on the season and 3-8 in league play. The Tritons earned the split of the season series, with the Gauchos having won the earlier meeting between the teams, 3-1, in Santa Barbara on Feb. 1.

The Tritons out-hit the Gauchos on the night, .376-.202. After a first game that saw 13 tie scores, UCSD led from start to finish in a commanding second-set performance. Cheyne Hayes put down a kill for the first point of the frame, with Mike Brunsting following with a service ace. A combination block by Hayes and Fred Stahl made it 3-0 in favor of the Tritons, who never looked back, using two mini-runs to take a commanding 11-4 lead.

Knotted at 3-3 in the third set, UCSD scored the next four points on a Gaucho service error, Stahl ace, Hayes kill, and stuff block by Iorfino and Sebastian Brady. Moments later, the Tritons went on another four-point spurt, getting kills by Carl Eberts (two), Hayes and Brunsting, for 13-6 and cruised from there.

Eberts joined Iorfino in double-digit kills with 11. Iorfino had eight digs, with senior libero Chase Frishman pacing the Tritons in that category with a match-high 13.

UCSD, third in the MPSF in digs at 9.41 per set, finished with 35 digs to just 22 for UCSB. More conspicuously, the Gauchos combined for 3.5 total team blocks in an ineffective night at the net for the visitors.

Fred Stahl had seven kills and match-high of four total blocks and two service aces. Brunsting wound up with 38 assists, five digs, two blocks, one kill and one ace.

Dylan Davis and Kevin Donohue had seven kills apiece for UCSB.

The Tritons host top-ranked defending national champion UC Irvine Saturday at 7 p.m. The Anteaters are coming off of a 3-1 home win over UCSB on Thursday night.

Triton Notes: UC Santa Barbara still leads the all-time series between the teams, 29-8, but the Tritons hold a 7-6 edge over the past 13 meetings ... With 11 more kills tonight, Carl Eberts increased his career total to 914, ninth-most in program history, as he vies to become just the fifth Triton ever to reach the 1,000-kill plateau ... Eberts has 49 matches with 10-plus kills for his career, including 10 this season ... Chase Frishman now has 567 digs for his career, fifth-most all-time at UCSD ... Frishman matched his season high in digs from the Jan. 4 opener with Lewis ... He has five matches this season with 10-plus digs and 22 for his career ... Nick Iorfino has nine matches with double-digit kills for his career and four this season ... Fred Stahl equaled his career high with a match-high two service aces.